Werner Landmann Rohrbach Ro II Photo Album

The collection consists of a small 7 x 10 inch photo album entitled "Ro II 1., Marz - Juni 1924 [March - June 1924]" which is believed to have belonged to Werner Landmann.

Early in his career, pilot Werner Landmann, flying as a civilian in an Albatros biplane, set a new world solo endurance record with a nonstop flight made June 28, 1914 (21 hours, 49 minutes) over Johannisthal Air Field outside Berlin, Germany. Landmann became a military pilot following the outbreak of World War I; he was shot down over the Eastern Front in October 1914 and served time as a prisoner of war in Russia. After the war, Landmann became chief test pilot for the German aircraft company Rohrbach Metall Flugzeugbau G.m.b.H. In 1922, Rohrback set up a Danish subsidiary, Rohrback Metal Aeroplan Co., A/S, in order to circumvent a Treaty of Versailles provision barring Germany from producing military aircraft. Rohrback Metal Aeroplan set up its company headquarters at Øresundsvej 142, Copenhagen, Denmark, and built a hangar at Kastrup Airport, south of Copenhagen. The first model produced by the Danish subsidiary was the Rohrbach Ro II Roche Flying Boat, a large all-metal 4-seat type designed as a reconnaissance and bomber aircraft. Landmann piloted the Rohrbach Ro II in its first successful test flight on November 11, 1923, near Kastrup Airport; Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed and load trials took place on October 24, 1924. In 1925 the Rohrbach Ro II was sold to Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha Ltd. and delivered to Japan. The Japanese navy redesignated the aircraft as the Yokosho Experimental Type R 1 and used it in naval aviation trials. Landmann went on to test fly later Rohrbach aircraft but died August 28, 1928, of cancer.